The information for this article must have come from an irate passenger who needed to vent their frustration. I like the part where sta will apparently now only operate 3 of 15 contract regions and also the level of complaints being 12,000!!!

Stu wrote:The information for this article must have come from an irate passenger who needed to vent their frustration. I like the part where sta will apparently now only operate 3 of 15 contract regions and also the level of complaints being 12,000!!!

What's wrong with that? 3/15 after region 6 is privatised is right isn't it?

STA will have to put the head office move on hold, some sections of the Southern Region head office at Leichhardt have already been moved out to Tempe to make room at Leichhardt for the relocation of head office from Mascot.

This is certainly big news since the last big announcement in December 2016 regarding the sta restructure and subsequent success in regaining another term of region contracts one year earlier than scheduled. I don't understand how these complaints came from the period of 2014-2015 and yet new contracts were awarded at the end of 2016 - unless the full story about contact renewal was never made public until now?

The NSW government will privatise the running of scores of bus routes in Sydney's inner west, risking a major dispute with thousands of heavily unionised bus drivers.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance has justified contracting the tender for bus region six – covering suburbs from Kensington in the city's south-east to Strathfield and Olympic Park in the west – out to the private sector by citing poor performance.

The inner-west region is one of four in NSW in which buses are run by the government-owned State Transit Authority. The other 11 regions are in the hands of private operators such as Transdev and Hillsbus.

The bus union said drivers were furious about the decision and accused the Transport Minister of betrayal following guarantees just six months ago from his department about extending the contracts.

Rail Tram and Bus Union divisional secretary Chris Preston said workers had been told as recently as December that STA's contract for bus regions in Sydney would remain after a restructure that included the axing of 200 back-office staff.

"This is the biggest betrayal this Minister Constance can do to these workers. The rest of Sydney's bus drivers will be furious as well," he said.

About 1200 bus drivers are affected by the latest decision to privatise services. In all, STA has about 3700 drivers in Sydney and 12 bus depots.

STA-run Sydney Buses still carries the majority of the city's passengers, including those on routes on the northern beaches, the CBD and the eastern suburbs.

Mr Constance repeatedly declined to provide a detailed answer when asked whether the public sector had been promised an extension of contract if it met performance guarantees, as the union had said.

"I haven't back-tracked on anything. We have always said that we would take action in the best interests of customers," he said.

The minister said the inner-west region had the highest level of complaints, which included claims from customers of buses speeding past them at stops.

"For too long, customers have suffered," he said.

Labor transport spokeswoman Jodi McKay said the Opposition feared the latest plans were merely a prelude to a wholesale sell-off of Sydney's transport network.

"This is a government that is rapidly getting out of the business of running public services. Buses should be run for the public benefit, not for private profit," she said.

The STA's five-year contract to operate the inner-west region expires at the end of this year.

Large companies such as Keolis Downer and Transit Systems have already said they are eager to bid for bus contracts in Sydney, which are some of the most lucrative.

However, unions fear further privatisation of bus routes will lead to cuts to drivers' wages and conditions, as well as bus routes deemed unprofitable.

The contract to operate a new bus corridor known as the "B-Line" from Sydney's CBD to the lower north shore and northern beaches is also expected to be opened up to private companies.

The latest plans coincide with Steffen Faurby, the former boss of Sydney Ferries, replacing Peter Rowley as chief executive of STA. The running of Sydney's government-owned ferries was placed in the hands of a private consortium in 2012.

The government is already effectively moving to privatise the operation of the Bankstown Line through the inner west from Sydenham to Bankstown by converting the railway to carry single-deck driverless trains.

The Tourism and Transport Forum has spearheaded a push for Sydney's entire bus network to be placed in the hands of private operators.

Interestingly politically as Eastern Region as a mix of Liberal, Independent and Labor. While the other two regions are Liberal seats. Makes sense politically for Inner West most of them are safe Labor or Green.

How on earth is this going to work for example the m20 is a cross city mostly Eastern Region route but half of the runs are done by Tempe. But the positive thing could be competition maybe it might help on routes like the 370 if on time running if two operators operate it spurring competition.

Stu wrote:
This is certainly big news since the last big announcement in December 2016 regarding the sta restructure and subsequent success in regaining another term of region contracts one year earlier than scheduled. I don't understand how these complaints came from the period of 2014-2015 and yet new contracts were awarded at the end of 2016 - unless the full story about contact renewal was never made public until now?

I dont recall this - can you point us in the right direction to find that? That is only 5 months ago.

Frosty wrote: this going to work for example the m20 is a cross city mostly Eastern Region route but half of the runs are done by Tempe. But the positive thing could be competition maybe it might help on routes like the 370 if on time running if two operators operate it spurring competition.

Those routes that are operated by depots both inside and outside of region 6 will most likely be transferred in full to one region which obviously would increase dead running.

But you cant do that with a depot like Tempe which operates routes in the Eastern Region as well as region 6. So some extra space is going to be required somewhere once this occurs - some interesting times ahead.
I would think that Tempe would be more likely to stay in region 6 in which case Eastern routes which are now operated from there would need to go elsewhere.

Fleet Lists wrote:But you cant do that with a depot like Tempe which operates routes in the Eastern Region as well as region 6. So some extra space is going to be required somewhere once this occurs.

Assuming it is the same number of buses, no reason all could not be accommodated within the existing depots. Tempe's routes could for arguments sake be transferred to Port Botany. Probably would create a space problem at the latter, but could be offset by tweaking zone boundaries and reallocating some of Port Botany's routes to Tempe.

May not be the most efficient way with increases in dead running likely, but presumably those routes that are operated by multiple depots both inside and outside of region 6, e.g. 370 that is operated by both Leichhardt and Randwick, will need to be reallocated assuming only one operator for each route.

Interestingly politically as Eastern Region as a mix of Liberal, Independent and Labor. While the other two regions are Liberal seats. Makes sense politically for Inner West most of them are safe Labor or Green.

How on earth is this going to work for example the m20 is a cross city mostly Eastern Region route but half of the runs are done by Tempe. But the positive thing could be competition maybe it might help on routes like the 370 if on time running if two operators operate it spurring competition.

They are privatising one of the most complex STA regions.

I wouldn't be surprised if more than one operator shares a number of cross-regional / through-routing city routes such as 389, 400, 410, 440 and metrobus routes. The travelling public wouldn't know the difference if a bus in TfNSW livery arrived at the bus stop.

The trendy folk of the inner west will be gullible enough to think that a new operator is suddenly going to improve services heavy traffic will disappear. I would presume that most complaints would relate to on time running, cancellations and capacity. The same complaints will go on and on even when various road and rail infrastructure projects are completed. This is exercise is simply about cost cutting and off loading public assets to the private sector.

STA privatisation in the Inner West would give more things for those people to complain about. They're complaining about Westconnex and some these people are against Sydney Metro because it's going to be privately operated. I would call them lot the Inner West protest capital of Australia.

Well I remember some sneaky thing I read about British Rail and on-time running. They simply abolished the timetable on a commuter route into London. It meant they didn't have to meet the OTR in the passenger charter and not pay out compensation for late running. I've given the government the solution to OTR just abolish the timetable and have frequency guides only. How can the public know if a bus is late if there no timetable.

I'm sure that at the end of the day, after TfNSW builds an expensive little empire to oversee these things, full of well overpaid bureaucrats, there probably won't be much money saved.

In the meantime a money grabbing organisation will take hold of the region, cut costs by taking away almost any benefits that the drivers currently have, making their working conditions hell, will doubtlessly be trimming back on maintenance to the barest acceptable level, will take no pride in the operation, given that they will firstly and foremostly be a profit driven organisation, with service coming a far distant second. They will, of course, make all the right noises that will sound most pleasing to the Government and the residents of the inner west, but I believe you'll find the outcome will be dirtier buses, increased breakdowns, and a vastly increased number of cancellations, resulting in eventual howls of protest from those same residents when it is all too late!.

My, what a potentially wonderful outcome that will, no doubt, be for one and all!

For all it's faults and criticisms, the STA was/is a service driven organisation, rather than profit driven one.